Maxime de la Rocheterie on Marie-Antoinette

"She was not a guilty woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent in her fancies for her favourites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart, until she became a martyr."

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Religious freedom:After winning the Michigan primary, Trump decried our culture’s “chipping away at Christianity.”He repeats the cheery Reaganesque promise, “We’re going to say ‘Merry Christmas’ again.”That’s shorthand for: You will be free to exercise your faith, not just in church, but in the public square.He boldly states that Christians are being persecuted and exterminated in the Middle East while others are able to escape.

Traditional marriage:He
says consistently that he favors it, correctly notes that marriage laws
are left by our Constitution to the people of each state to decide for
themselves, and denounced strongly the judicial activism of the Supreme
Court imposing same-sex marriage as an invented right.Pressed by a reporter about his own status as twice divorced, Trump offers no defense, no doubletalk.He says he was at fault.And Trump’s hard-working, serious, charitable children speak volumes about the job their parents did raising them.

Limited constitutional government:The
Catholic principle of subsidiarity teaches that "a community of a
higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of
a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions."Respecting
the role of states, communities, and families and freeing them from the
massive, overweening bureaucracy is something Trump wants to do — and
importantly, can do.One
can see him finally closing the Department of Education that Ronald
Reagan had hoped to close, and taking no prisoners in reforming the
Veterans Administration to end the red tape for those who deserve the
best after serving our country.(Read more.)

'Anger,' as it has been leveled at the Republican base, is a
mischaracterization, designed to dismiss them as irrational and even
dangerous. The truth is they’re simply good people who love their
country and are honestly afraid of losing their freedom, having their
private property taken away through high taxes, being robbed of their
rights through increasing regulations, having their privacy invaded by
the IRS and the NSA, and having an expanding government rob them of
quality healthcare, the right to defend themselves, and free choice in
the education of their children.

Conservatives today look at the government and they see creeping
tyranny (and in some instances, not so creeping). They see very few
checks and balances among the branches, they see the Constitution
violated and undermined by legislators—including those in the GOP, they
see judges legislating, and they see an unaccountable executive ruling
by fiat. Is it any wonder they’re afraid? The question is ‘Why isn’t the
GOP establishment afraid?’

It’s been said, ‘When government fears the people, there is liberty.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.’ The Republican
base doesn’t hate the government as Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall
Street Journal said
in her rant against Cruz supporters. They fear a government that is no
longer acting within the boundaries of the Constitution. They fear
tyranny.

I wrote that two years ago. Today, we’re hearing the same thing from
insiders (even if they are registered “Independents”). Nichols writes
that Trump supporters “embrace being the underdog because it gives them a
sense of importance and specialness that comes from believing they are
in an ongoing struggle with The Man or The System or The Cartel. Thus
they love it when The Donald says things like ‘everybody is stupid,’
because that’s how they feel all the time.” Nichols uses the term “stupid” seven times to describe those who
oppose political insiders and Washington elites. Of the Tea Party, he
says they put people on the political stage “whose stock in trade was
either pristine ignorance or pure rage.”

As a Tea Party member, I can say I’m neither ignorant nor filled with
pure rage. Neither am I stupid. I have been thoughtful in my opposition
to tyranny in Washington, and it’s one reason I’ve pushed to keep
writing, despite having little support, struggling with personal issues,
and often doing it while working three jobs to help pay the bills. As a
Senior Contributor at The Federalist, I continue to write, standing for
local governance, low taxes, a strong defense, the civil society, the
Constitution, and life in the womb. (Read more.)

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